A New Enemy
by Allithea
Summary: The turtles are faced with a new invisible enemy. PG-13 for language and angst. My first attempt at fanfiction


He walked slowly back to lair after splitting off with Casey a few blocks back ****

A NEW ENEMY

Synopsis: PG –13 for language and angst. Turtles are confronted by a new advisory. Can they stop this new force before they are destroyed one by one?

Prologue:

He walked slowly back to lair after splitting off with Casey a few blocks back. The night was quiet and cold. Raph loved busting heads at night. Those punk kids deserved everything they got; it helped clear his head and blow off steam. And after dealing with Leo all day long, he was usually pissed off. If not for something Leo did specifically, just for general purposes. He tried really hard to not let Leo get under his skin, it just never worked.

Raph walked into the lair. Leo was sleeping on the couch, his usual spot. Using his ninja stealth he tired to sneak past without waking the fearless leader. It didn't work, as usual. Leo rolled over and said sleepily,

"Catch anything interesting tonight?"

"Nah," Raph answered back, "Just the usual thugs. Night Leo"

"Good Night", Leo answered back.

Raph continued his trip to the back to the lair. The light to Donny's lab was off, which was unusual. He glanced over to the room that Leo and Donny shared and the door was closed. Raph walked over to the door, opened it, and looked in. Donny was in his bed reading. 

Donny looked up at Raph when he looked in, obviously puzzled. "What's up?" he asked as he stretched into a yawn. He pushed the book he was reading aside. It was some kind of veterinary medical book. 

Raph wandered over to Donny's bed and picked up the book, "Physiology of Reptiles, Fish, and Amphibians. God Donny, how can you possibly read this stuff," Raph said, as he flipped through the book, showing the nasty gash on his arm in the light.

Don shook his head and said, "If you'd stop getting yourself hurt all the time, maybe I wouldn't have too. But as long as you keep losing fights, I'll keep reading about how to patch you back up. How bad is it, should I get Master Splinter?"

"No don't get Splinter, it's pretty deep though, it hurts like hell. I figured I better get you or Mikey to clean it up before I go to bed. And I didn't lose the fight."

"Whatever," Don said and got up out of his bed. He and Raph walked to the infirmary. Don accessed the cut. It was on Raph's left arm, just above the elbow. Don doubted the Raph could even see it, it was pretty nasty, not serious, but ugly just the same. 

"Is that glass in there?" Don asked. Raph nodded, "You should have woken up Mikey," he said. And with that quickly pulled the glass out of cut. Despite himself Raph gasped.

"You could have warned me," Raph said darkly

"Now where's the fun in that." Don said. Don finished cleaning out the wound, and looked at the glass again. "Damn, what'd they do throw Mountain Dew bottles at you?" He handed Raph the glass shard, it was a triangular piece green glass.

Don finished dressing the cut in silence and yawned. Raph studied the glass and then set it on the table in the infirmary. Don said, "All done." Raph gave Donny a look of thanks. They both returned to the main lair and Donny went back to his room. Raph wandered back to his room. He knew that Donny wouldn't mention his little accident to anyone, and he didn't care how Raph got a piece of Mountain Dew bottle suck in his arm in the first place. Raph and Donny were opposite on just about everything, but Raph did like the fact his next younger brother knew how to keep his mouth shut. 

Don never did mention the incident to anyone. Neither did Raph, he was embarrassed because the guy he fought was just a 15 year old untrained punk who got in one lucky shot. Raph knew that Splinter and Leo would give him a grief about being more careful, and going out at night, and about controlling his temper, and so on and so on. So he never told anyone else, and even pulled the bandage off before practice the next day. The piece of green glass sat on the table in the infirmary totally forgotten. Totally forgotten and every 15 minutes or so, transmitting a radio signal.

****

Chapter 1: 

A week or so after Raph's glass removal, one of the intruder alarms went off. The noise got the attention of everyone in the lair, they were all eating breakfast, one of Mike concoctions, a breakfast pizza, topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, mushrooms, vegetables, and pineapple. Don got up from the table and walked back to his lab. The alarms stopped and he returned a few minutes later.

"It's one of the inner alarms," he said, "all of the other security sensors are in place. I guess some kind of animal set it off." This had happened before, it wasn't all that uncommon. "I'll run down and check it after breakfast." Don still had an uneasy feeling about it.

So did Master Splitter and Leo. "Go now Donatello. Take one of your brothers with you" Splinter ordered softly. And Leo quickly volunteered to go with him. The two geared up, Don grabbed his electric toolkit and they headed toward the tripped sensor. 

The two brothers ventured down the sewer tunnel. It was a perfectly ordinary day. They could see the sun shining above. People were hurrying in the typical New York style. Don spotted a wallet in the sewer, he looked through it but it was empty. 

Leonardo had very good instincts, especially when it came to danger. He was very uneasy about this tripped sensor, but the danger seemed distant, hidden, and larger. Like this sensor was bigger then it seemed to be. He couldn't dismiss the feelings and he was very quiet. 

"Lighten up Leo," Don said, trying to mask his own uneasiness, "I've done this a hundred times. It's always an animal of some kind responsible for this. You know, you're getting as paranoid as Raph." 

Leo shot back, "Then why are you so nervous? You feel it too, I can see it your face." Leo without knowing it, went back to leader mode, "You should trust your feelings more Donny, it'd make you a better fighter. Tune you in more to the rest of us during battle, especially if you don't want to give up the staff." 

"Touché" Don said throwing his arms up in the air. He couldn't resist making the next crack. "I didn't know that being compared to Raph would piss you off so much, Sorry bro." 

'That ended the conversation,' Don thought as he saw Leo scowl. He didn't want to discuss with Leo again why he didn't want to use a different weapon. Leo never would understand why. So much for getting rid of his uneasiness, he thought. He should have brought Mikey. Mike would've made this routine trip fun. Probably would've taken the skateboards, fixed the sensor, gone and got some pizza, goofed around for awhile. But now he was stuck here with Leo and his lectures, and something that was looming over both of them, which he couldn't explain with any type of logic. Well, hopefully Leo wouldn't be a downer on his whole morning. 

Not that he was mad at Leo nor did ever really get mad at anyone. He doubted that his brothers would ever understand him, and Donatello accepted that. There was no reason to get upset about something that people couldn't help. He and Leo always got along great, usually Don did what Leo asked of him. And, he thought, if there is trouble Leo was the brother to have with you. 

Leo acknowledged Donny's mock apology but didn't say anything else about it. Leo often got upset at Don, Leo was often upset at all of his brothers for different reasons. Donny had the same type of instincts that Leo had, but he never trusted them. If he would just use his natural ability, he'd improve his fighting skills immensely. 

The green brothers had arrived at the intruder sensor. It was located about 10 minutes from the lair. It was the second system in line of defense. The first intruder sensor was located out another 10 minutes beyond where this sensor was. It would be pretty difficult for a person to get past the first sensor to get to the 2nd sensor and trip it off. The odds of a person actually doing it were pretty slim. 

Don found the hidden wires and checked over the whole system. This system was a series of infrared sensors placed at various heights off the ground, about 6 inches apart. There was a keypad on either side of the sewer wall which temporary deactivated the sensor long enough for a group of 4 turtles to get through. The keypad was hidden into the sewer wall and covered with grime. It was totally invisible. 

Don checked first all the wiring. Most of the trip signals happen because rodents chew the wires and disconnect the power to the system. This was not the case. Don then checked each individual pair of sensors. One of the pair had a strange round mushroom growing on it. 

"Hey Leo, Look at this," Don called to his brother. Leo had been standing on guard for Donny, he still couldn't shake that uneasy feeling.

"It looks like some kind of mushroom," Leo stated. "How did that get there?"

"Don't know, I doubt mushrooms can grow in sewers. We have to get it off somehow. I don't think we should touch the thing."

"Now who as paranoid as Raph?" Leo asked, while Don grabbed his bo. 

"I always have been as paranoid as Raph," Don said and smiled. Leo smiled back, all's forgiving Don thought. He and Leo backed off as far as the bo would reach and Don slowly removed the mushroom from off the sensor using his bo. 

The mushroom came off easily and Don dropped it on the sewer floor. "Hmm," Don said, "That wasn't bad… weird, but not bad." The sensor was returned to its normal state. "That should do it, Leo. The mushroom was setting off that one sensor, which caused an intruder alert. How that mushroom got on the sensor is another question. But, the system seems fine now. That should fix the problem. Let's head home. I'm hungry. " 

Leo nodded. The problem had been solved. He shrugged off the uneasy feelings and thought 'maybe I am getting paranoid.' Leo walked out of the sensor group with Donny following him. That's when the fireworks started.

The first thing Leo noticed was the flash of red light and he heard Donny yelp. Leo spun around to see another flash of red and then heard Donny yelp again. They were under attack, but from what and where. Leo looked around and then another flash and pain in his shoulder, he yelled involuntarily. Another flash and Donny screamed this time. Another flash, pain in his arm, another flash, pain on his chest. 

Leo dropped into a crouch, lasers he thought, but from where. Another flash and Leo watched as Donny took a shot in the leg. He was moving back toward the sensors, more flashes and Donny took several hits until he got back into the path of the sensors. The laser stopped just as abruptly as it started. 

The entire attack took less then minute. 

Leo got up and looked toward his brother. He slowly began to notice pain in his arms and his shoulder, and it seemed to grow and intensify. Until his arm and shoulder felt like they were still on fire. Donny was standing directly in the path of a sensor. He too was in a lot of pain. So much pain that his vision started to blur. He became detached, like his mind and body separated. He noticed the burns on his arms and legs but slowly he didn't feel it anymore. It was like he was watching himself from far off. 

Leo walked to over to Donny. They just stared at each other for minute

"You ok?" Leo asked Donny.

"I've been better," he said "You?"

"About the same," Leo said. "What in the hell just happened here?" 

"I don't know, but I do know that setting off the sensor shut off the laser or whatever just shot at us." Don said. Leo noticed his eyes were sort of fuzzy, like he was having trouble focusing. 

"What exactly does that mean, Donny," 

"It means, I have to shut down the intruder alarm before we go back to the lair, or the laser will go off as soon as we leave the beams again." He started to sway a little bit. 

"Stay with me Donny, I can't do this on my own."

Don leaned back against the wall and said softly, "Get my toolkit, Leo. This won't take long." Leo walked over to discarded toolkit and reached down to pick it up. Leo's vision filled with stars and his vision became very blurry as he leaned down. He managed to get it without fainting and gave to a nearly unconscious Donatello. 

Donny opened the kit and found a wirecutter. He started talking to himself trying to focus. "I have to trip the beams permanently, so that the laser doesn't come back on, if that is what's causing the laser to go off. Can't cut the power without getting electrocuted. One sensor out should do the trick." With that he grabbed the wirecutters by the handle and drove the straight into the center of the one of the sensors. The sensor flicked and sparked, and then was dead. "These are wired in parallel, so I still can't cut the power, but they work together as one switch, the switch should be off. Ok, should be ok now. We should be all right now Leo. We should be all right."

"Leo?" Donny said his vision was swimming. "Let's go home Leo. Where are you Leo?" With that Donny lost his battle to stay conscious and collapsed to the floor of the sewer. 

Leonardo fuzzily watched Donny fall to the ground. Need to get help he thought, so much pain, it hurts, so much pain, have to stay awake. Cannot go get help, he thought, need help. Splinter, he thought of his master's presence, his essence and called out with all of his mental power. SPLINTER, SPLINTER, SPLINTER, and then Leo too fell unconscious. 

****

Chapter 2: 

Mike and Raph were cleaning up after the breakfast, they tossed what was left of their brothers' breakfasts into the fridge, and headed back to the training room to spar before practice began. 

Raph started out with a roundhouse kick, which Mike ducked and rolled away from. Mike popped up behind Raph and trird to kick his side, Raph turned around and blocked with an arm. He grabbed Mike's leg and tried to bring him down, but Mike brought his other leg up and spun away from Raph with an acrobatic sideways flip. Mike landed and he and Raph squared off again. As Mike threw the first punch toward Raph, and suddenly they both stopped dead.

"Leo," Raph started…

"Is hurt," Mike finished…

The two brothers quickly geared up to go out to the sewer. Master Splinter found them. "Raphael, Michaelangelo, go to your brothers, quickly, I'll prepare for you here."

They ran to the site, weapons ready, and prepared to take on any enemy. They snuck up on the area and it was quiet. It was so quiet, that they expected a vicious surprise attack. Raph finally sprung into the area and saw only his brothers. Donny was laying face down on the floor, Leo was leaning against the wall. From far off, Leo looked like he was sleeping peacefully. Before Raph looked at Leo and Don he did a sweep of the area. No one else was here, there were no signs of a struggle, no weapons around, nothing seemed wrong in the area. Except that his brothers were both unconscious. 

Mike came out after Raph gave the all clear, and Mike went to check out Don. Mike accessed Don breathing and pulse and then rolled him over. "Shit," he cursed softly under his breath. Donny had major burns on his arms, his shoulder, both his legs, and on his shell. His wounds were also now totally covered in sewer water. Mike felt a knot form in his stomach and his eye filled with tears. "Dammit Donny," he said quietly.

Raph went to Leo. Leo was in slightly better shape. He had three burns, one on his shoulder, one on his arm and one chest plate. Anger welled up inside Raph, but he kept it under control. He had too.

Raph gently shook Leo, "hey Leo, come on Leo, wake up" 

Leo eyes rolled open and focused up on Raph. "Raph," he said softly, "Lasers… Help Donny… Donny is hurt…" Then he passed back out. 

Raph turned over look at Mike. "How's Donny?" 

"He's burned bad on his arms and legs" Mike said keeping his voice steady, "He's breathing is ok, but his skin is cold and clammy. His pulse is really weak and slow. I think he's in shock."

"Are you sure of that, Mike?" Raph asked slowly.

"No, I'm not. Donny's the only one who'd really know. I don't know the science behind all this. What'd we do Raph?" Mike's voice started shaking, "I don't how we can move Donny without some kind of a stretcher. Moving him might hurt him even worse. What about Leo, how's he?"

"He's burned too. He came around for a second." Raph looked over at Mike. Raph's eyes were filled with fear and he saw that's Mike's eyes were filled with the same fear. Fear of losing their brothers, fear of making a mistake and hurting them even worse. 'Got to figure out what to do,' Raph thought.

"Ok Mikey, here's what we'll do," Raph started, "I'll get Leo home somehow, and get a stretcher and come back. Meanwhile, you do whatever you can for Donny."

"Are you sure moving Leo like that a good idea?"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"Well no, but…"

"Well ok, then, we have to get them home and quicker the better. We'll just have to take the risks." 

"But…" Mikey began

"Raph's right Mikey." Both Mikey and Raph turned to look back at Leo. He was struggling to get up. Raph hurried over to help him. Raph more or less hauled his older brother into standing position and threw Leo good shoulder across his own. "Quicker the better." Leo finished.

Raph turned to look at Mikey. "I'll get back as quick as I can." And with that he and Leo slowly started off back to the lair. 

Leo held up pretty well for the first part of the journey. So Raph decided to ask him some questions.

"Are you hurt other then the burns Leo," 

"No, just the burns, laser burns," Leo's breathing was very heavy. 

"Were you attacked?" Raph continued.

"No," he said, then he changed his mind "Yes, attacked, Don's intruder system, a big mushroom," Leo was only semi-conscious, he tried to fight the pain long enough to get home. He tried to maintain control. He continued in his dazed state, "Don broke it, turned off," Leo was quiet for a few moments. His voice became more pinched and quieter as he said, "Under attack, hurts, a lot, have to fight it. Donny's down. Raph, stopped it"

Leo began to stagger and stumble and Raph caught him. Raph thought that it was only a matter of time before Leo passed out again. "Leo," he said, "Come on Leo, we're almost there. You can make it. Dammit Leo, you have to, I have to go back for Donny" Raph almost pleaded.

Leo heard Raph and fought harder to stay conscious, the pain was almost unbearable. The blackness was clouding around his vision. Leo took a deep breath and focused on taking one step at a time. After a few minutes he said to Raph more coherently, "I'm going to make it Raph." 

And they did. Raph and Leo made the 10 minute trip in about 20 minutes. Not bad considering Leo's state. Raph quickly dragged Leo to the infirmary, and called "SPLINTER!!!!"

Raph got Leo on to one of the cots, and then started rummaging through the closet for the stretcher that Don had made with a couple old bos. He pulled it out just as Splinter arrived. He looked over at Leo and he once again was unconscious. 

Raph gave Splinter a quick synopsis of the situation, "Leo has a couple of really bad burns, he's in a lot of pain, and can't seem to stay conscious. He did walk all the way back, though. Donny has more burns, is probably in shock, and Mike is back with him. We'll have to bring him back on a stretcher. Mike afraid to move him otherwise."

With that much said, Raph hurried out of the lair. He arrived to find Donny pretty much in the same spot he was before. Mike had turned him over, he was chatting to Donny like he was awake. Even under the circumstances Raph thought the situation was rather funny. Mike was telling the unconscious Don about his next cooking experiment and what Don was going to do to help him. Don and Mike cooking together in the kitchen was almost always a disaster. 

"Hey, Mike," Raph called, "How's he doing?"

"He's not doing anything," he said softly. Mike eyes told the story. Mike was scared to death, but he was controlling his fear. "We need to get him home quick, his pulse is getting weaker."

The two uninjured brothers quickly loaded Don onto the stretcher and took off for home. Mike was glad to get moving. He had sat with Donatello for almost a .5 hour totally helpless. He could barely stand it. The only way he managed to control his fear was to talk to his brother about all the stuff they were going to do. Mike and Don had always shared a bond that Leo and Raph didn't quite understand. 

Mike and Raph were great pals, they pulled a lot of stunts together. But Raph's dark side always had scared Mike, and sort of pushed his brothers away from him. Leo, being the "fearless leader" was also a tad aloof. 'The leader is by necessity is slightly separate from the rest' Don had said once. It hadn't made a lot of sense at the time, but as Mike thought about it more and more, he knew that Don was right. By accepting the position and honor as leader, Leo had also accepted the isolation and duty that went with it. The isolation and duty that Mike and Don knew they didn't want. Mike and Don were free from the forces that drove their two older brothers. One day it would drive Raph and Leo apart. 

Donny arrived to the infirmary about 30 minutes from when Raph left. Splinter was cleaning Leo's wounds, and had given him a special tea to help with the pain. To their surprise Leo was awake and sitting up in a chair. 

"Oh Donny," Leo said as they brought him in. "Damn, I wish I knew what happened." Leo voice couldn't hide the frustration that he was feeling.

They set him on one the stretchers, the one Leo had been on. Splinter left Leo and went over to his other sons. Splinter quickly evaluated Donatello and then said "Michaelangelo, elevate his feet, Raphael, get cool water and clean towels." After Raph had left the room, Splinter looked at Mikey gravely, "This is very serious. The burns need to be cooled, but the body needs to be warmed. I will need your help."

Mikey nodded. Raph returned with the towels, and a basin of cool water. Raph then backed off. "Michaelangelo, gently clean out the burns with the cool water." Together Mike and Splinter cleaned and dressed all of Donatello's burns. They then wrapped him in every warm piece of clothing they could find. 

Splinter mediated around Don after they were finished. "He is weak, my sons, and he is growing weaker."

"I wish we could do more for him." Mike said listlessly. 

"What about giving him some blood?" Leo suggested, "When we've been injured before, we've given each other blood. Do you think that would help?"

Inspiration hit Raph, "Hey, Don has all those medical book in your room. Maybe one of those would help us."

"Good idea, Raph!" Mike quickly dashed to Leo and Don's bedroom and retrieved the medical books.

Mike returned with 2 books, one on reptile anatomy and a medical book about dealing with trauma. He flipped Raph the book about reptiles and he took the book on trauma. 

Mike hit pay dirt first. "Hmm, it says here there are three types of burns, 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd degree. From the description it looks like Donny's and Leo's burns are 2nd degree. It says they are very painful, but no permanent damage is done to the skin. They recommend some different types of salves to help them heal. It also says that burn victims will often go into shock, or pass out due to pain." He paused while he read ahead a few paragraphs, "Burn victims are often given plasma, and need a large amount of fluid to prevent dehydration. What's plasma?"

"I think it's blood" Leo said

"Oh, and fluid is just water, but he's unconscious, how to we give him water?" Mike asked.

"An IV?" Leo suggested. 

"Oh, none of us know how to put one in." Mike's voice fell. "I thought we might have had something there. Did you get anything Raph?"

"There's only one cure in this book for that all reptiles diseases and injuries… killing the reptile."

"I don't think Don would appreciate that." Leo said dryly. "Any thoughts Master?"

"If we cannot put in an IV, then there is nothing more that we can do, my sons. Your brother is strong. He will fight. And, we must wait. Leonardo, you must go lie down, Michaelangleo, Raphael, finish your katas. I will watch over Donatello." 

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Mike and Splinter took turns watching over Donatello, Leo rested in his room, and Raph practiced. Raph practiced and practiced, he was raging on the inside. The anger and fear were just too much. As soon as it was dark, he left the lair, leaving Mike to watch over his brothers. 

One of his brothers was hurt, the other lay dying, and no one could explain why or how. 

****

Chapter 3:

Leo was up and making breakfast when Raph final woke up for the day, well Leo was making oatmeal. It was the first time Raph had really seen him cook, usually Mikey did the cooking. 'This just proves things are all screwed up around here' Raph thought to himself. 

"Morning," Raph said as he looked in the frig. 

"Morning," Leo said dully. Raph looked up. Usually Leo would give him a hard time about getting up so late, or at least comment about his going out last night. 'He always has some comment' Raph gave Leo a full minute to say something, but Leo was quiet. Raph took a good look at him for the first time. His bandages were damp with a clear liquid. His face was pinched and he looked pale. 

"Hey, Leo, sit down." Raph escorted Leo to the kitchen table and he filled the bowl with oatmeal and plenty of milk, popped it into the microwave. He then got the juice from the refrigerator and gave Leo the entire bottle. "It not five star quality, but every cook had to start somewhere." Raph flashed Leo one of his rare grins. 

Leo smiled, "Thanks Raph." He drank the juice straight from the bottle, he hurt too much to really care about much of anything. 

"How you feeling?" 

"It hurts." He said shortly.

"Maybe Mikey has some stronger pain medication hiding somewhere back in the infirmary." Raph suggested. 

"It's okay Raph," Leo said, leaning his head backward and slouching back into the chair. "I'm Ok."

"No, brainless, you're not, if you were, you'd have been nagging me about getting up so late. Let's get you some more pain medication."

"I'm OK! Really. I don't want to bother Mikey and Splinter"

"Would you just admit for once that you're hurt and need some help."

"I'm fine Raph! Leave me alone." With that Leo got up and got his oatmeal from the microwave, trying to prove to Raph that he was just fine.

"Alright, fine, I'll leave you alone." He said to Leo, as he walked away, he muttered under his breath "Stubborn bastard" There was a crash and he whirled around to see Leo's bowl of oatmeal on the floor, Leo was just staring at it. A tear fell down Leo's face and he angrily wiped it away. He slowly bent down to pick it up and he was obviously fighting back the tears and the pain. 

Raph walked back to Leo, took the bowl from him and set it in the sink. "It's going to be okay Leo, let's get you some more medicine."

"But I'd have to walk all the way back to the infirmary, I'm so sore and tired Raph. So tired."

"I make you some more oatmeal and then go get you some medicine. Will that work?"

Leo nodded and once again slouched in the chair. Raph made Leo some more oatmeal and then ventured back in the infirmary. Mikey was there, looking glum.

"Hey Mikey, is there any stronger pain relievers, Leo is hurtin'."

"Not stronger, but you can give him some more, in the cabinet over there, I think it's Tylenol with Codeine. I don't know how Donny got it but it should help Leo." 

"How's he doing?"

"About the same… Why did you leave me here all alone last night?" Mike's eyes flashed with anger

"I… was… Ah… umm… I mean… blowing off steam… you know, like I always do." 

"And you left me here to take care of everyone on my own."

"Well… Splinter was here… I thought that, well, everything would be okay without me… I guess." His excused sounded feeble even to him. "I'm sorry, Mike. I'm not used to this. I'm not good at helping like you are…" 

"Raph I need your help. Would you watch over Donny? I need to get something to eat and get some sleep. Leo was up most of the night, and Splinter and I were trying different things to relieve the pain. Splinter went to sleep just before you came in last night and I've been up all night."

"But I don't know what to do, What if he dies? And I can't help him." 

"Neither can I, or even master Splinter. Just watch him and take his pulse once and awhile."

"But…"

"Raph, stop being so fucking selfish and help me damn it! I can't do this on my own."

The comment was so un-Mikey that Raph's mouth literally dropped open. He was too shocked to be angry. "Okay, Mike. I'll stay here with him. Let me take Leo his medicine first."

Raph took the codeine to Leo and then went back to the infirmary. Mikey left Raph alone. Raph just sat there staring at his brother. Donny didn't look good, in fact, he looked even worse then he did yesterday. His skin was little paler and his breathing a bit more strained. He had broken out in a light sweat. Raph checked his pulse and that too was more erratic. He hadn't woken up. It'd been over 24 hours, Raph wondered if Donny would ever wake up again. 

April picked that moment to drop by. She had been investigating a mysterious crime that had happened the day before. Figuring the guys would be interested, she decided to make a trip down. She didn't expect the site she got when she arrived. 

"Hey guys, how's it going" she called into the lair.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, it's below 0," she heard a sullen voice from the kitchen.

Michaelangelo? She thought. That doesn't sound like him. She walked into the kitchen to see Mikey with his head laying on the table and Leo, wrapped up like a mummy asleep on the chair at the table. 

"Mikey? What's the matter? What happened to Leo?"

"Don and Leo were burned pretty badly yesterday. Leo is doing pretty well, he's been up and around. Donny hasn't woken up at all. I don't know if he will."

"He's dying! What happened?"

"You know, I don't know. Leo tried to explain a couple of times, but he still isn't making a lot of sense about the whole thing. Raph and I are guessing that either one of Donny inventions backfired or that they were attacked."

"Attacked? Are you guys under attack again?"

"I don't know, Donny's equipment has been known to malfunction. We don't have any real enemies and I doubt that it was an accident."

"So you think that one of Donny's inventions screwed up?"

"Well, yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying. Don's security system went haywire and starting attacking them. And now he may die because of his own stupid invention." Mike was tired and angry and he couldn't keep the bitterness from showing. He decided to change the subject. "What brings you down here? You usually don't arrive unannounced."

"There's a new crime wave in the city. It resembles the foot crime wave a couple of years ago. I thought that maybe you guys would be interested. It is very similar. Virtually identical to the foot."

Mike dropped his head into his hands. "Ordinarily I'd say we'd check it out and see what's going on, but now… I don't think that we can. Leo is a rough shape, Donny's even worse, I'm exhausted, and Raph is well, Raph. Besides, if it is the foot, it's not the same foot that we fought before. Our debt to our master is fulfilled. The shredder is dead. His followers are disbanded by now. It's got to be different group. Maybe by next week, if Leo is better, we could do something. Not right now."

"You guys have to do what you have to do. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"I don't know, April," tears started to fall down Mike's checks, "He hasn't woken up yet, I'm so scared." Mikey started crying freely. "I have this feeling that if we don't do something soon, he's just going to slip away." Mikey sobbed. "I'm so mad at him and his stupid inventions. Why did he event something that could hurt someone so badly? He's so smart and so stupid at the same time! And now he's dying and he's the only one of us that knows enough about medicine to treat his own wounds. I feel so helpless. Leo too hurt to do anything, and Raph is running out at night, and that leaves just me to watch my brother die in front of my eyes. I can't take this April." Mike stopped talking and just cried. April walked over and gave him a hug. Mike continued to sob for another few minutes. He sat down on the chair and put his head on the kitchen table. Within 30 seconds he was asleep. 

April left Mike alone and walked back to the infirmary. Raph was sitting staring at Donatello. "Hi April," he said. 

"How's he doing?" April asked.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about any of this. He's really bad, and getting worse. I think he's in shock, is that's what it's called?"

April nodded. 

Raph continued, "if he doesn't come out of it soon…" 

"Raph, let me make a phone call to my one doctor friend…"

Within 5 minutes April had enough information about burns and shock to be scared for Donny and Leo. Splinter, Leo, and Mike all came in to the infirmary.

April started with the news, "Ok, first of all, from the description, Donny is in hypovolemic shock and he's in immediate danger of dying. The burns caused the shock, although the burns themselves are probably only 2nd degree, they cover too much of his body surface. We need to set up an IV. He needs blood and then more fluid after that. His burns are essentially stealing all the water in his body, which is putting stress on his organs. We need to replace the blood."

The infirmary was flurry of activity. Before too long and with a lot of poking of Raph, who complained loudly, April managed to get an IV started. Don started to receive blood from his brother. After about 20 minutes, they disconnected Raph and set up a regular IV with fluid bags Mike had found in the cabinet. Donny drained that fluid and then they hooked Mikey up to give Donny blood. They then set on another fluid bag. 

As they set on the last IV, he was looking a lot better. His skin was greener, his pulse stronger and more regular, and his breathing was much better. April gave Raph a list of salves and drugs that would help burns. Then she left, Casey was waiting for her at home. She knew that Raph would get the drugs somehow, and that'd be reporting a strange theft from a local pharmacy at work tomorrow. 

****

Later that night, Mikey was changing Donny's IV when Raph came in with a bunch of different drugs in bags. He let them spill out onto a table. There were salves, painkillers, more IV bags, and more general medical supplies. 

"Did you steal all of these Raph?"

"Well… to use a Donny-ism, I pilfered all these drugs."

"What does that mean?"

"It's a nice of way of saying stealing, but it makes it sound better. He uses that word all time when he goes and gets medical supplies."

"Donny stealing, from stores? That doesn't sound like him. He'd feel too guilty about it."

"No, he steals from hospitals. He took me with him once. He said that he would try and buy medical supplies, like he buys the gadgets he needs for all his projects, but you can't get most of the stuff he needed without a prescription. He started stealing from pharmacies, but they didn't have the selection that he needed and there was a much greater chance of getting caught. He told me stealing from hospitals is better all the way around. I think, although he didn't say this, he did feel guilty stealing from stores, directly from one person. So he started to steal from the government run public hospital, I think it lessened his guilt about stealing when it was from the government."

Mikey smiled, "yeah, that sounds more like him. Don pil…pilf…pilf… stealing medical supplies from public hospitals to lessen his guilt."

"I never steal…" A scratchy voice said.

"Donny!" Mikey exclaimed, "You're awake, how do you feel?"

"I hurt everywhere… I'm so tired…" 

"Go back to sleep Donny, you're going to be just fine," Mike said. Don's eyes drifted closed again, and he fell back asleep. Mike let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding. Don is going to be alright! Don is going to be alright. Mike smiled.

****

Chapter 4: 

Don's recovery was slow but steady and after about a week he was up and doing some light practicing. Leo also was making a slow recovery. They both were still very tired and slept over 12 hours a day. Donny joked about it, saying that he'll never keep ahead of Raph and Mikey breaking stuff if he didn't get better soon. Leo took it more seriously. He meditated for over an hour everyday as if willing his body to heal faster. 

Raph hadn't left the lair without Mikey's permission since the accident. He was getting antsy about getting out on the streets again. He had been in good spirits even with his cabin fever. This was because Leo had been off his case for almost a week. Splinter had also been praising Raph extensively for his help with the injured brothers and with holding his temper through this trying time.

Mike however was in terrible temper. He was uncharacteristically moody. He was helpful and smiling one minute and pissed off the next. Splinter approached him about it and he merely shrugged, stated that he was Ok. Splinter left it at that. He knew that Michaelangelo wouldn't hide his real feelings for very long. 

And he didn't. Don decided that it was about time that he go back the accident site to see what caused the laser fire. He asked Mike to come with him. Don too had noticed Mike's bad humor and thought this would be a good chance to ask him about it. 

Before they left Donny stopped Raph, "Hey, Raph, if we don't get back in an hour, come and check to make sure we aren't burnt to a crisp alright."

"Sure Donny, although, turtle crisp, isn't that a delicacy in India."

"Very funny, donut brain."

"Egghead"

"Frog kisser"

"Goofy impersonator."

"Hoooo… Heeeee…" Donny stammered. "Alright, you win. I can't think of any 'H' slams. Just come get us and don't send us to India, it's hot there."

"Sure, hothead" Raph answered back.

"No Raph, that's you. You're the hothead. I thought of that one, but figured I shouldn't slam you with the truth." Raph grabbed him by the shell and swung him around playfully. "Okay, sorry," Don said. "I need to go, see you later." Raph just spun him around faster. "Raph would you knock it off, before I'm forced to hurt you."

Raph stopped swinging Donny around and laughed, "You couldn't beat me up ever, not even when you were well." 

Don wormed out of his grasp. He gave Raph a devilish look and said, "I said hurt you, not beat you up, hornet brain" and then left the room. Raph smiled and shook his head. "Things are getting back to normal, " he said.

Mike and Don started to walk to the site of the accident. Mike was quiet. Don began to have flashes of the walk he took about a week ago with Leo and Leo not saying anything the whole trip. "Damn," Don said out loud, "Am I that hard to talk too?"

"What" Mike asked.

"The trip I took over here with Leo last time, he didn't say much more then two things the whole way up. It was pretty dull, until the shooting started. Now I'm walking up there with you and you aren't saying anything either. I was asking if I'm that bad to talk too."

"No," Mike said, "It's not that you're difficult to talk too, it's just that I can't stand to be around you right now."

Don was shocked. "What? Why?"

"I'm so pissed off at you Donny, and you were hurt and I couldn't be mad at you."

"You can be mad at me now. I would appreciated it if you would tell me why you're so mad."

"Why'd you build something that could kill?"

"Huh?" Don was confused. "What'd I build that could kill?"

"The sensor system. If you hadn't built it to kill, you and Leo never would have been hurt. You're just so dumb sometimes Donny. You were missing the day God handed out common sense. Look at what you did to yourself. You could have died. You would have died if April hadn't shown up when she did and all over a stupid invention."

"Mikey," Don started slowly. "My sensor system, as I set it up, could no more hurt a fly, then kill Leo and me." He paused for a moment and then continued, "The system is set up using infrared sensors and some cables. That's it, there is nothing about the system that could possibly hurt anyone. All it does is sends a signal when someone walks through the beams. I'm pretty sure that someone screwed with my system. I don't know how or why, but they modified it so that when the signal was reestablished a laser would fire. From what Leo said and from what I vaguely remember I disabled the system before I passed out." 

Don stopped for a second and turned to Mike. "Hey, remember, I was voted most likely of all of us to die of old age, a.k.a. Mr. Pacifist, the turtle most likely never to kill anyone or anything. Mike, I would never design anything like that to kill. Besides all it do would be kill a lot of mice and make the whole place stink to high heaven."

"You mean that this wasn't an accident?" Mikey asked. "Your system didn't screw-up?"

"My system was tampered with and that couldn't be an accident. I think that we were attacked, subtly, quietly, and viciously. That's why I wanted to go back to the site to see if I can make sense of the attack."

Mike's anger toward Donatello faded, and was replaced by an even stronger anger, at whoever was responsible for such a dishonorable attack. 

"Donny," Mike said, "I'm sorry that I was mad at you. You forgive me?"

Don slowed moved his still wrapped arm around Mike's shoulder, "Always bro, always. You and I have to stick together." Mike smiled and all of a sudden another weight was lifted from him. He began to chatter on about some TV show that he'd seen. The rest of the trip was filled with Mike and Don talking and joking. 

They arrived at the site. Don began to look around. "Mike," he said. "Check around for any signs of people being here, you might want to check up ahead."

So while Mike was wandering around looking for any signs of people, Don was checking out the remains of his sensor system. His wirecutter still was sticking out one of the sensors. He went from sensor pair to sensor pair looking for anything out of place. It was the sensor he'd taken the mushroom off of where he found the first signs of tampering. "Damn," he said out loud. "That's amazing"

Mike returned a few minutes later. "There are some fingerprints along the sewer wall ahead. Did you find anything."

"Oh yeah, I think Leo and I are very lucky. I'm getting tired, let's head back. I'll explain everything when we get home."

About an hour later Don was ready to explain what he had seen up at the sight of the accident. Mike, Raph and Leo all sat on the couch, Splinter sat in his chair and Donny sat facing them all. 

"Well," Raph prompted.

"Ok, here goes," Donny said. "I think that someone is trying to kill us." Everyone shifted uncomfortably at that.

"Why Don," Leo said, "we don't have any enemies."

"I don't know why, I do know how. My sensor system was modified Leo. I set it up to send a signal back to the lair if one of the sensors was tripped. Someone changed it so that if the sensors were on, but not tripped, a laser would fire. And not just any laser, a heat sensing laser, one that can track into heat sources. It is wired to explode if the power is ever cut. So if we tried to disarm it by hitting the pad that we hit to go through, or by cutting the power lines, it would explode." 

Don's family looked a little blank, so he added, "in short, someone tampered with my intruder system, setting it up so that it would injure us if we got close and kill us if we tried to turn it off."

"Who?" Leo asked.

"I don't know. It had to be someone who knows where we are and has the technology and know-how to turn our defenses against us." Don said.

"No one knows where we are except, Keno, April, Casey, maybe that professor…" Mike drifted off. "I can't think of anyone else who know for sure where we are."

"You can count all of them out. None of them, not even the professor, could modify the defense system like this. It would take a technical genius. I don't know if I could have pulled this off." Don said. "I definitely don't have the components it would have taken to set this up. Nor could I afford them. Heat seeking lasers are pretty difficult to come by. I don't know if you can actually buy them. You might have to get them off the black-market."

The tension level in the room continued to grow. Mike verbalized it "What do we do?"

"Is there anything we can do?" Don asked. "It's like the foot, fighting an enemy that you can't see"

"The foot?" Mike said, and then he repeated it "the foot. April stopped down the day after your accident," he corrected himself, "your attack, and said there were a crime wave a lot like the foot clan a couple of years ago. Since you two were in no condition to fight, I put her off, saying that we couldn't look into it."

"Well we couldn't" Raph agreed. "Could that be it, could it be the foot clan again? But why, with the Shredder gone, we have nothing against them."

"But they might have something against us," Leo said. 

"There is nothing that can be done tonight, but you all must be cautious, or will we suffer more injuries." Splinter said. 

****

Chapter 5: 

Raph was the next victim of a nearly fatal "accident". Always the hothead, he didn't heed to Splinter's words of caution and that night went to fight thugs and punks. He listened to Splinter of course, and was actually being extra careful. No one knew the method of attack that the invisible enemy would use, but no one could have guessed what would happen to Raph.

Raph got home about 2 am. He was shaking and swearing and thinking 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die.' He went into the room where that he and Mikey shared and shook Mike awake. 

"Mikey, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, God, I don't want to die, please help me" Raph was desperate. He shook Mike even harder, "Come on Mikey, wake up."

"What, Huh?" Mike said getting his bearings, "Raph, what do you want, it's 2 o'clock in the morning!"

"I'm dying Mikey, they got me, I wasn't listening to Splinter, they got me, I'm going to die. Dammit Mike I don't want to die, not like this."

"Not like what? What in the hell are you talking about?"

"They shot me with something and they laughed and now I'm going to die, they said so."

"Who said so? Shot you with what" 

"The injected me with something, something to make me die, but slow they said and in lots of pain. 2 needles they hit me with, they looked like the foot, black masks…" Raph blabbed on, but Mikey didn't catch half of it, Raph was taking way too fast.

"Let's get you to the infirmary and I'll get Master Splinter"

"God Mikey, I never ever thought that anything like this would happen, I can fight guns and knives and swords and chains and bottles and hands and legs, but not needles, I don't want to die without honor, God Mikey, can you believe that they attack with needles, who attacks with needles, Mikey, I'm going to die Mikey, please help he Mikey…" Raph continued his mile a minute monologue. 

"I'll kill him if he doesn't shut up soon" Mike muttered. "Ok Raph you stay here, I'll go get Splinter."

"But Mikey don't go, come on stay here with me, I'll tell you all sorts of good jokes that we can play on Donny and Leo. How 'bout we replace Leo katanas with plastic sword you get at the store and then take Donny's computer and…"

"I'll be right back Raph." Mike quickly left the room and left Raph talking out loud to himself.

"Master Splinter, come quick, something is wrong with Raph." Mike called softly. Splinter quickly arose and followed Mike to the infirmary. 

Mike had always heard about people bouncing off the walls, but he never thought that he'd ever get to see for himself. Raph was literally running up to a wall and jumping in the air, planting his feet and jumping off. Mike was so tired, he couldn't imagine doing what Raph was doing. It made him even more tired just watching him. 

"Raphael!" Splinter said sharply. "Sit here." Raph got on to the cot that Splinter had indicated and sat down. His legs couldn't stay still, they were moving back and forth and up and down. Raph just couldn't sit still. 

He began his dialogue again, "Master Splinter I'm dying, the guys, they hit me with needles and then they hit me with another needle and then they told me that I was going to die and then they tired to beat me up, but I fought them honorably and won and they ran away and left me there with the needles in my arms and now I'm here and I'm going to die, I don't want to die, I like living, I don't want to die Splinter, please don't let me die…" Raph continued on in the same manner.

Splinter addressed Mike "Michaelangelo, go get your brother Donatello. We will need his help"

Mike was about to argue that Donny needed to rest, but one look at Raph fidgeting on the table and he bit his tongue and went to wake Don. Don was tough to wake up, once asleep he could sleep through a tornado. Today was no exception, in fact Donny still was sleeping half the day after his accident and he was especially tough to wake up. 

"Come on Don," Mike whispered, trying not to wake Leo who was sleeping in the next bed. "Donny wake up." He shook Don pretty hard, he wasn't getting anywhere until he touched one of his brother's burns on accident. Don gasped and shot up. He yelped in surprise when he saw Mikey so close to his bed. 

"Mikey," he said and laid back down, "I'm tired Mikey, so tired, have to sleep now."

"We need your help. Raph got into something nasty tonight and he's bouncing off the walls, literally. Splinter needs you… come on. Oh and quietly, we don't want to wake up Leo."

"It's too late for that," Leo said dryly from the next bed over. He was at least more conscious. "Can I help?" he asked, "Don really should be sleeping."

"The more the merrier I guess," Mike replied, "Come on Donny."

"Ok, Ok, I'm coming."

The three brothers went to the infirmary where their 4th brother, who had fallen victim to a strange attack, was still fidgeting. Raph still had the three needles that they got with on his body. Two were in the back side of his arm right where his latest injury had been. One was in his thigh. Splinter had removed all needles and gave them to Don. 

"It is vital to determine what these drugs are that they gave to Raphael. I have found only these needles sticks on his body. I cannot sense any poisons in his aura. I believe that he will be all right. Please check Donatello." Splinter requested. 

Don didn't even say a word, he just took the needles from Splinter and wandered to the medical equipment in the corner. He started performing tests on the remnants of the drugs Raph was given. This will take awhile he thought. He looked at the clear liquids in all three needles. A very long time he thought.

While Donny spent the night searching for what Raph had been given, Leo and Mike had fun trying to keep Raph from hurting anything or anyone. Raph was wound up worse then anyone had ever seen him. He was paranoid and acting very strange, not very Raph like. 

Finally they decided to spar with Raph until he calmed down. This they did, for hours. Mike would go with him for about 15 minutes and then Leo would go for 15 minutes while Mike rested, back and forth for almost 6 hours. Leo and Mike were totally exhausted. It got to the point where in the rest period, Mike or Leo would fall asleep. Raph was still wound up tighter then a 25 hour clock. At about 8 in the morning, Mike and Leo both fell asleep on the floor of the training room. Raph was not calming down.

Donny got one of the three drugs figured out by early in the morning. The most obvious one, Raph had been given a powerful stimulant. A.k.a. Raph was given a highly potent form of the street drug that was called speed. 

"It's a stimulant, probably the equivalent of drinking 100 cups of coffee. It's addictive over the long term, but I don't think he was given enough to cause that. It'll wear off here in the next couple of hours and then he'll crash and probably sleep for over a day." Don explained to Splinter. "The other two look like bacteria of some sort, I've got them in culturing now. I need to sleep Master. I can't keep my eyes open. Please wake me when the tests are complete."

Splinter took Raph out to the sewer and made him run back and forth up and down the tunnels. Finally around 11 o'clock am, 9 hours since he arrived at home, Raph began to calm down. Splinter sent him to his room and Raph fell asleep soon after. All of his sons were asleep from 11 o'clock till about 2 in the afternoon when Mike and Leo finally pulled their exhausted bodies off the floor and deposited themselves into beds. 

Leo and Don were both asleep at supertime. Mike woke up again around 5 in the afternoon. He and Splinter shared some quiet time together over some tea and dinner. 

"Michaelangelo, you are the only one among your brothers that have not fallen victim to our invisible enemy. I commend you."

"Blind luck," Mike comment dryly."

"And excellent personal insight." Splinter added. "Do not sell yourself short my son. You have handled all these difficult situations well. You also have resolved your issues with your brother Donatello."

Mike just shook his head, 'can't hide anything from Splinter' he thought. "Yes I worked everything out with Donny, as it turns out, I was wrong about some things which caused the problem. I thought that the attack in the sewer at the sensors was one of his experiments gone bad. It wasn't his fault, but I blamed him for it."

"Your anger at Donatello may have been misplaced this time, but Donatello does need to be reminded that his inventions can cause more destruction then he intends. You have helped him by voicing your concerns. Donatello too, was right in correcting you and now you both have a deeper understanding of each other. You are growing my son. I'm proud of the achievements you have made in the last few months."

"Thank you Master." Mikey bowed his head at the praise. "Speaking of Don, I wonder if he and Leo are ever going to wake up. Doesn't he to work on those samples?"

"Yes, Donatello does need to work some more for Raphael. I will wake him. Go check on Raphael."

Donatello, being very exhausted, was very cranky when Splinter woke him. He also hurt. He limped slowly to the infirmary, and then started to work. I can't take much more of this, we can't take more this, he thought. 

Splinter followed him into the infirmary. "You are in pain," he said, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

Don started to shake his head no, and thought of something, "You could get me a cup of coffee and some more painkillers. But not the strong ones, just the Advil, the other stuff makes you sleepy. Lord knows, none of us can afford to be sleepy."

"I will send Michaelangelo with both. You handled the issue with him well my son. You did not become angry at the misunderstanding."

It took Don a couple of seconds to figure out what Splinter was talking about, a lot had happened since then. He then nodded and said "Thank you master."

Don continued to work. Mike arrived a few minutes later. "Don-dude," he said brightly, "How's it going buddy?"

"Let me see, I hurt, I'm sore, I'm grumpy, and tired, my brother has been injected with some as of yet unknown substances, we've being attacked by an unknown, invisible enemy. I think it's safe to say, it's going shitty, and probably will get worse before it gets better."

Mike's light mood wasn't effected, "I thought that you'd say something like that, so I brought you something to cheer you up." Mike handed Don his favorite drink, a Mikey concoction, a triple chocolate latte, with extra whipped cream on the top and chocolate sprinkles.

Don had to smile, "Thanks Mikey. Sorry, I'm so negative, I… well…" he couldn't finish, so Mike tried.

"You're very tired, and you hurt a lot, and you're always grumpy in the morning anyway."

"Yeah, that works." Don said. Mike also gave him a couple of pain killers and then Mike laid down on one of the infirmary cots and fell back asleep. Don continued working on trying to figure out which bacteria was injected to his brother. He worked for about 2 hours, and then came up with something. 

He walked over and woke Mike back up. "Hey Mike, go get Master Splinter, I think I'm on to something."

A few minutes later, Mike, Splinter, Don and Leo were all assembled in the infirmary. Once again Don was explaining what he could figure out. 

"First of all, Raph is going to be just fine. But, he'll probably be out of it for awhile. We'll all probably be out of it for awhile. Raph was injected with 3 different drugs. The first was a powerful stimulant, which took effect almost immediately."

"That one was pretty easy to figure out Don." Leo said, yawning. "Now what about the others?"

"One was a bacteria, the other was a virus. The bacteria are streptococcus bacteria. It causes sore throats and eventually whooping cough in humans. The virus is a flu virus."

"They gave Raph the flu?" Mike sounded skeptical. 

"Well, yes, they did. This is pretty ingenious. They worked it out so Raph will probably be sick for the next 2 weeks." They all looked surprised.

"2 weeks?" Leo asked, "as in 14 full days? How did they do that?"

"The bacterial infection never would have effected Raph, because he's too healthy. His body would have fought it off before he ever got sick. That's why they gave him the stimulant, the only way the infection would take hold is if his body was run down. How do you quickly run someone down? A stimulant does that nicely. Then after Raph's body has fought off the bacteria, he'll be very susceptible to the viral infection, which has to incubate for at least a week anyway. The virus is highly contagious. So by the time Raph first shows symptoms, we'll all be exposed and get it about a week later."

"They could have given Raph any deadly poison in the world and they chose to give him the flu?" Mike said, "either I'm missing something or our friends aren't in the killing business."

"It is pretty weird," Don admitted. 

"What kind of flu is it Don? I mean, what will it do to us?" Leo asked thoughtfully.

"The kind that makes you ache all over, not like we don't already, sore throat, cough, slight fever. I've got the technical name of it right here, but I can't pronounce it."

"How much do you suppose it cost to drug Raph up like that?" Leo continued.

"I don't know," Don said thoughtfully. "The only thing that would easy to get ahold of would be the stimulant, which would be sold at street value. I don't know how much that would be. The other two, I don't think are ever sold. I mean, who would want to buy streptococcus bacteria."

"Then how did they get them?" Mike asked, "They had to come from somewhere."

"They could have been grown." Don conceded. "If they had a small sample and the right equipment."

"How much would the equipment cost, Donny?" Leo asked

"Even used, you're talking, probably well over $10,000, I don't know that for sure, but a lot in any case. The stuff we have, I had to rebuild, and that was expensive. I spent a couple thousand dollars in parts to fix the equipment up. And all we have is an incubator. You'd need a lot more equipment then that to produce a serum of bacteria."

Leo continued with another question, "How much would that heat seeking laser cost?"

"I don't know, I don't even know where to look to buy one."

"Give me a range, $1000, $10,000… what would be your best guess?"

"More than that, it's small, has heat seeking capabilities, rapid fire, low charging time… it would probably cost well over $100,000."

Mike's jaw dropped, "Well over $100,000… Do you know how many pizzas that would buy?"

"10,000 pizzas." Don said without missing a beat. Mike shot him an exasperated look and then punched him in the arm, like he normally would do. He forgot that Don had burns on his arms. 

"Aghhh!" Don yelped as Mike's playful blow hit his raw skin. 

"Shit Donny, I'm sorry. I forget." Mike said. Don nodded in acceptance of the apology, but the look of pain never left his face. 

"So," Leo summed up the info from Don, "we're facing an enemy that has almost unlimited monetary resources and is using tactics that we don't understand to accomplish unknown goals. The only thing that we're sure about is that they know who we are, where we are, and how to cripple us."

Don sat down on one of the infirmary cots. His face still showed the pain that he was in from Mike's punch. "So what do we do?" he asked. 

"I'll mediate tonight before I go to bed and perhaps a something will come to me." Leo said. "What do we need to do for Raph, Don?"

"When he wakes up, he'll need lots of fluids, and probably a shot of penicillin. The best thing for him now is to just sleep it off. His body maybe able to fight this off on his own." Don answered.

"I agree with you Donatello," Splinter said. He had been silent up to this point. "Raphael needs rest, but what about your other patient?" 

"Leo? Give him a few more days and he'll be fine. I checked out his burns and they're healing cleanly. He'll still be weak for awhile, in a couple of months, you'd never know that he was hurt." Don answered.

"I did not mean Leonardo, I meant, _you_ Donatello. The demands on you have been great and I fear that you are not healing as swiftly as you should be."

"I'll be ok," Don said. "I'm getting better every day."

"Even so, you must focus on healing your body. Whatever challenges lie ahead, I foresee that all of you must be fully well in body, mind and spirit. I too will mediate tonight and perhaps I will gain insight on the invisible enemy."

****

Chapter 6: 

Leo mediated into the night, he'd slept half the day away anyway. His mediation wasn't as successful as he would have liked. After a couple of hours, he got up and went to his room to go to bed. To his surprise, Don was still awake. 

"What are you doing up?" Leo asked.

"I couldn't sleep, I figured reading some books would help. I grabbed one of your books, figured that would put me to sleep fast." Don answered with a smile.

"Then why aren't you asleep?" Leo countered.

"I was surprised, it's actually half-way interesting. Not useful like the stuff I usually read, but it's entertaining. Right now I'm reading a story about a guy named Hannibal and how he crossed the mountain with elephants."

"Everyone said that it couldn't be done, but Hannibal did it anyway. He was considered a military genius…" Leo changed gears, "so tell me the real reason you're awake. You look exhausted, like you can barely keep your eyes open. I don't buy that you found reading about military history fascinating enough to keep you awake. You're not telling me something."

"I, ah… I, well… I can't sleep. It takes awhile to get situated so that the burns aren't hurting and then after that, my mind kept racing. I figured I'd read till I could sleep."

"Well, that's closer, but you still aren't telling me everything.. "

"You're getting as bad as Master Splinter. Alright, I did fall asleep and slept for awhile, and then I had a horrible nightmare about the Nazi's. I didn't want to worry you, you read so much into dreams. It's probably just a goofy dream."

"But you're worried, so you grabbed my book about military tacticians, to understand your dream."

"That was the idea, yes. I haven't figured anything out. It was strange, I saw German's soldiers shooting at people. The people they were shooting were falling and screaming, and there was blood everywhere, and the victims' eyes were full of pain. There were others coming up behind, pulling them to safety. I then saw you and Raph being shot. As I was running to help you, someone put a gun to my heart, I heard it go off, and that's when I woke up."

"You're right, I think there is probably some message in it" Leo remarked.

"Figures. Did you come up with anything in your mediation?"

"It didn't go very well. It was like there was a beep that went off every time I started to focus in. It distracted me. Maybe Splinter had better luck."

"A beep?"

"Yeah, very soft, very subtle, very regular. I sensed it about every 15 minutes or so after I started paying attention to it."

"And it never stopped?"

"No, that was the strange part. I've had trouble meditating before, but not like this. This seem to come from outside myself, not inside myself."

Don locked his eyes with Leo, "Holy shit!" he said sat up. "You might have just come up with something." Don slowly got out of bed and starting walking out the door.

"What Don? What may I have just come up with?" Leo asked and he followed Don out the door.

"I don't know, but we'll see in a minute."

Don and Leo walked to Don's lab. Once inside Donny started messing with the equipment behind his computer on the wall, the security system. Don picked up a strange hand held device that Leo had seen before. It was the receiver for a homing system that Don had invented. Don hooked it up to a radio that was on a workbench. 

"That should do it," he said as he plugged the radio in the wall.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked.

"I'm going to scan the lair for radio frequencies. Maybe what you sensed was a radio transmission coming from inside the lair. That happened to Master Splinter once. Mike and I were messing around with the homing device to see how well it worked, and Splinter could sense it in his mediation. He said he could feel the signal. 

"You mean like a homing beacon. You think someone may have put a homing beacon in here somewhere."

"Exactly." Don started to work, within a few minutes his crude detection device picked up the signal. "There it is, take a look"

Leo looked at the receiver. A green line appeared at the frequency Don was tuned into. He adjusted the dial on the radio and it faded away. He adjusted it back to where it was before and the line came back. Don took the receiver back from Leo, and he disconnected it from the radio. He manually dialed in the frequency on the receiver and started to home in on the source of the signal. Within 10 minutes Leo and Don were standing in the infirmary. Don quickly found the source of the signal, the garbage can.

"Yuck, the signal would be coming from the garbage can." It was filled with the remnants of the bandages and drugs that were used for the last week in treating Leo's and Don's burns.

"Look at the bright side, it's pretty much filled up with your bandages." Leo remarked

"Very funny" Don said, and he starting digging through the garbage can. The item he was looking for was on the very bottom, a triangular piece of green glass. Don held the glass up to the light. A very small transmitter was embedded in the glass, barely visible. 

"Raph…" Don said under his breath.

"What it is that?" Leo asked.

"A piece of glass that I took out of Raph's arm almost two weeks ago. It has a radio transmitter inside. Here, look." Don handed the glass over to Leo. 

"This is how they found us." It was a statement, not a question. After a few minutes of dead quiet, Leo continued, "They knew that Raph fought at night. They tagged him with a signal to tell them how to get to the rest of us. And you just dreamed about the Nazi's during WWII. And you were the only one to get seriously injured, the only one who might have died. Raph and I were only put out of commission. I think I understand now." 

Don didn't answer, he just shot Leo a puzzled look. 

"I know what we have to do." Leo continued. "But we'll have to wait til morning. Let's go to back to bed Donny." 

****

Chapter 7: 

Leo spent the next morning at April's apartment gathering information about the "footlike" crime wave. Meanwhile, back at the lair, Mike was dealing with a very tired, very irritated Raphael. Mike had taken him to the infirmary, and had him lay down on the cot.

"What are you going to do with that needle Mikey?" Raph asked as Mike walked over to him.

"You need a shot of penicillin," he answered. "You were injected with bacteria and this shot will help fight it off." 

"What?" Raph asked. "Who injected me with bacteria?"

"Do you remember the fight you got in the other night?"

Raph thought about it, the details came back but very hazily. Raph shook his head yes to Mike's question. Then he said "I remember, but it's like watching myself in fast forward." 

"You do remember then," Mike said smiling. "Leo and I spared with you for over 6 hours. I don't ever remember being so tired in my whole life."

"I was fighting those punk kids who looked like the foot. They wore the black masks. There were 6 of them I was fighting and then one kid I didn't see, the seventh, hit me from behind with the needles. They all laughed at me, and said I was going to die. They all ran away after that. Did you guys ever figure out what they gave me?"

"Yeah, you were given three separate things. The first was a stimulant, which is why you were so hyper, the 2nd was some bacteria and the 3rd was a virus. I guess they wanted you to be sick for a long time."

"You mean it's not going to kill me?" Raph asked.

"Nah, Donny thought that you'd be okay in a couple of weeks, after you fought all the stuff off. He told me to give you a shot of penicillin to help." Mike answered. 

"Wait a minute," Raph said, "Why in the hell did they go to the trouble of injecting me if it isn't going to kill me. I mean, shit, it's pretty hard to inject a ninja with a drug in the first place. And then after all that work, it's only to make me sick. Who are these people? I figured that they injected me with a poison, because they couldn't kill me honorably. The kids knew kung-fu. They were well trained, but I still was better. I thought it was a last ditch attempt."

"Leo said this morning that he got something figured out last night. Maybe he can explain it. It doesn't make any sense to me either." Mike said. "I'm going to inject you now, in your arm."

Raph nodded and watched as Mike shot the medicine into his arm. Raph clenched and unclenched his fist a few times, helping the medicine go into his body. After a few minutes, his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell back asleep. Mike smiled, Don must have added a sedative as well. 'Raph will sleep well,' he thought 'hopefully his body will fight this off before he gets sick.'

Mike walked out to the kitchen and Leo had just arrived back home. 

"What'd you find out about our enemy?" Mike asked 

"I think I know who they are at least." Leo answered, "You were right about the foot. Let's get everyone together."

"Raph just fell back asleep, I gave him penicillin and a sedative, he should sleep like a baby for a couple of hours."

"Where's Don and Master Splinter?"

"Don is asleep and Master Splinter is meditating."

"Go get Donny and I'll get Splinter."

"Right," Mike said and walked back to Leo and Don's bedroom and took the next 5 minutes waking up Don. Leo had better luck with Master Splinter.

After they were all assembled in the living room, Leo explained his findings. 

"I believe our enemy again is the foot, but a different sect of the foot. April said that there is a rash of strange, invisible thefts again, very much like the one two years ago. The major difference is these are less total thefts then last time, but they are stealing much more expensive things, like jewelry, and artwork. No one ever sees the thieves, and the security systems are disabled so there aren't even any electronic views of the criminals.

"What I figure is that the actual thieves are the same people we fought two years ago, but they are being led by someone else. Saki is dead, but his clan still existed. They were a group of highly skilled ninjas. Someone else found them and is using them. Same flunkies, different boss.

"The foot knew of us and knew that we'd come after them, and they had to neutralize us. However, being ninja and knowing that they couldn't defeat us outright, they tried different tactics. They didn't want to kill us. That would cause us to try and kill them for the debt of honor. So instead they tried to hurt us in such a way that we wouldn't be able to stop them. That way, we would chose not to interfere. They could rob the city blind and no one would be able to stand in their way.

"Which brings me to your dream Don, which is what got me thinking this way. Germany, toward the end of the WWII started shooting to injure, not to kill. One injured mans needs at least 2 more soldiers to take care of him, whereas one dead solider only neutralizes one soldier. They started hurting people to neutralize 3 soldiers instead of just one."

Don asked, "So they're injuring us so that we won't be able to fight them, because we're too busy taking care of each other to engage them in combat."

"That's my theory anyway. They probably had heard rumors about Raph, used him to bring home the homing device, and then started making us have "accidents""

"What homing device?" Mike asked

Leo quickly filled him and Splinter in on the events leading to Don and Leo finding the homing device. Then he continued explaining.

"Their intent was just to get us out of the picture long enough to rob New York blind. April said they've stolen roughly 5 million dollars worth of goods in the last two weeks."

"Since we had our little accident." Don stated flatly.

"Yes, the thefts started the day we were burned." Leo confirmed.

Mike looked puzzled, "There's one thing that doesn't make sense, Leo. Donny almost died. They put him out of commission, yes, but if he had died, we would have a debt of honor to kill whoever killed him."

"But," Leo countered, "the way it happened, none of us would ever have known that it wasn't an accident. Didn't you blame Don at first for what happened. Imagine if he would have died. You would have always blamed him. No one else could have known the intruder system was tampered with beside him."

"And there's something else," Don said and they turned to look at him, "The laser could have been set on a higher setting. It could have done a lot more damage, where Leo and I would have been dead almost instantly. I took more blasts then Leo, on purpose. I needed to take out the system, and that put me directly into the line of fire, between Leo and the laser. Maybe they weren't trying to kill either of us, just trying to wound both of us. Otherwise, why wouldn't have they set the laser to kill. 2nd degree burns, like we have, don't even cause long term damage.

"You said that it would blow up if the power was cut," Mike pointed out. "That doesn't sound like them only trying to injure us."

"But I don't know if the explosion would have really done a lot of damage. It may only have destroyed the device itself." Don said.

"Ok, so maybe they are on no-kill rampage" Mike conceded, "but what do we do? We're in no condition to fight, and that's exactly what they wanted. We've already lost"

"No," Splinter said, "We have not lost. We have begun to solve the mystery behind the strange attacks. This is something that they never expected you to do. And you are right Michaelangelo. You are not a full team and therefore weaker. However, a team of three," Splinter looked over to Donatello, "or even two maybe enough to stop the crimes. At least long enough for everyone to recover and then stop them forever."

"We'll begin our search tonight, Master." Leo said. "Mikey, you with me."

"Yeah, I'm with you Leo," Mike said

"Donny, how about you?" Leo asked

Don looked between Leo and Splinter and replied slowly, "Yeah, Leo, count me in."

****

Chapter 8: 

Leo, Don and Mike trudged through the sewer in that order, looking for any signs of their invisible foe. Raph had been very angry when he heard they were going out, without him. Don checked him to see if the infection had taken hold. And it had, worse then Don had expected. Raph's throat looked as red as a stop sign and he had a fever to boot. Don had eventually decided to sedate Raph again, mostly to prevent him from following them. 

"Since Raph isn't here," Don began, "I feel that it is my duty to do what he does."

"All Raph does is complain about my plans," Leo pointed out. 

"Exactly my point," Donny said. "I need to complain about this plan, to keep you on your toes. I'm really just trying to help you out Leo. Improve the plan, you know"

"Sure Don… Do you actually have a problem? Or are you just going to talk about complaining and never actually do it."

"No I do have a problem, it's just that I've never really had to bring it up before. Raph always found the flaws and pointed them out."

Leo stopped, "Spit it out already, at least Raph gets to the point."

"Right, ok here goes, what are we trying to accomplish tonight? I mean we don't know who we're dealing with, where they are located, what they are trying to steal, why they are stealing, or when they'll strike next. Do we even know what we are looking for?"

"The 5 W's," Mike complimented Don, "you might be able to write a story someday."

"Thanks," Don smiled at him. 

Leo shook his head at both of them. "I was hoping to get some clues from the old foot hideout, and then shake up some of the kids on the street see if they had information. This was supposed to be a fact-finding trip. Do you have a better idea about how to find the answers to your questions?"

"Well, no," Don admitted. "But neither does Raph when he has problems. I'm just trying to fill in for him."

"Are you satisfied with my plan now, Raphatello?"

"Sure, that works for me. Whatever you say Leo." 

"No, you got it all wrong Donny," Mike said, "you're supposed to say, 'alright Leo, but if you screw up, I'm going to bash your head in'"

"I'll do better next time." Don answered.

Leo eyes rolled in exasperation, "Would you two be serious for once?"

They quickly glanced at each other, "You be serious, I'll be Mike?" 

"No way, I don't want to be serious, I had to be serious last time." Don answered. "But, I'll match you for it."

A few seconds and some hand gestures later, Mike looked crestfallen. "Alright," he said, "I'll be serious, but next time you have to be serious."

Leo shook his head again and started walking. Don and Mike followed. Leo walked silently for a few minutes, and then decided to say something. 

"You know guys, you usually understand the importance of situations like this. Why is this mission different?" Leo was very frustrated with them.

"Leo," Don said. "it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack. I really don't think that we're going to find what we're looking for. I'm not even sure we know what we're looking for." His tone became gentler, "I don't have any other ideas and we need to start somewhere, and your plan is the best we have. Even if there isn't a high probability of success, we have to try."

Leo was mollified with that. They walked the rest of the way to the old foot headquarters in silence. 

They arrived just after midnight. The building was dark. They snuck in and looked around, looking for any clues leading to the current location of the foot. The old warehouse was dark, dusty and empty. They searched high and low for anything of value, and found nothing. Nothing at all.

Don was puzzled. "Umm Guys, there's something strange here. No one would clean out a building this thoroughly."

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

"Well, it's pretty expensive to remove equipment from buildings. Usually they leave something, an old generator, some light fixtures, sinks, stuff that's bolted down and would take a lot of time to remove. But this, they took everything," Don explained gesturing to the empty ceiling and the walls.

Mike looked over at him puzzled, "Now wait a minute Donny, how in the hell do you know what empty buildings typically look like?"

"Where do you think I found that heater?"

"You _are _a thief!" Mike accused. "First medical supplies, now heaters. Have you been listening to Splinter?"

Don felt a flash of anger, "Raph told you about the medical supplies?" Don asked, "that hotheaded blabbermouth!"

"You're going to being flips for months!" Mike teased.

"You're going to tell on me?" Don looked surprised.

"Well, I could be persuaded to let your flawed judgement slip Splinter's noticed, provided that I'm amply rewarded." Mike said, using his lawyer voice.

"Blackmail?" Don asked, "you wouldn't do that to your favorite brother would you?"

"Nah, Raph would beat the crap out me," Mike said and then ducked the punch that Don threw at him. "Besides you made me be serious, so I'm being serious. Splinter is going to ground you for a month when he finds out you've been stealing from hospitals and warehouses."

Leo watched the exchanged with a bemused expression. He finally decided to help get Donny off the hook. "So you were saying Don."

"Yeah," Don began, glanced over at Mike and hit him on the forehead, "Loser stamp!" 

"Hey! I'll be able to go see a movie next week with the money you give me." Mike answered back. "Small price to pay for freedom bro!"

"Anyway, Leo, it's just weird. They must have been expecting this building to be searched, so they cleaned out everything of value." Don said ignoring Mike's last comment. "But it could also mean their keeping an eye on it, so we could have just walked into a trap."

Leo and Mike quickly turned in circles to make sure no one was around. Don, in the past, had figured out that they had walked into a trap, but usually so late there was nothing that anyone could do about it

"We should probably get out of here." Leo said. Don and Mike agreed and quickly followed Leo out the window they came in.

"There's one thing that I need to check," Don said after they were out and he disappeared into the darkness, before Leo could stop him.

"Damn… get back here Donny," Leo whispered.

Don reemerged from the darkness. "The building is wired to start transmitting a radio signal when the door is opened. It was a trap, but we didn't trip it off. But…" he began

"We can use their trap against them." Leo finished

"Exactly" Don answered. The two brothers locked eyes and started planning.

"Huh, How?" Mike asked. 

"We'll need Casey's help," Leo started, "and you'll need to get a counter intelligence kit together." 

"Right, and we'll probably need to move Raph and Splinter to somewhere more secure. And then plan on joining the as soon after as possible?"

"The farmhouse?" Leo suggested.

"Too remote, I'm sure that I'll need access to medical supplies, as long as Mikey doesn't turn me in to Splinter." 

"Umm guys…" Mike started

"April's apartment?" Leo suggested to Don, both brothers ignoring Mike.

"That would work, I guess. I hate to keep putting April out. We should try and buy some property through April someday" Don answered.

"Someday," Leo conceded, "but for today, that's about all we have."

"But that might put her in danger, the foot knew about her too." Don said thoughtfully.

"All the better reason to have Raph there. He can still fight right?" Leo continued.

"The only way Raph wouldn't fight would be if he were dead." Don said.

"Guys," Mike finally got their attention. "Is this a private conversation, or are you let me in on it"

"All in good time, Mikey" Leo said, "All in good time"

****

Chapter 9:

Mike didn't need to worry about being left out. He, Leo and Splinter worked the bulk of the plan out before they went to bed, and the attack was planned for the very next night. Leo had wanted to push it off another couple of days to allow for extra preparation, but Splinter disagreed.

"We cannot afford to take any more injuries, Leonardo," he said. "Raphael's condition grows worse, and I fear the sickness will spread to each of you soon. If you do not take action soon, the opportunity will pass, without us taking advantage of it."

"But Master," Leo interjected, "will Donny be able to do what is needed from him in his current condition?" 

"Leo's right, Master," Mike agreed, "He was fine on the way to the warehouse, but the pain started in on him on the way home. He didn't say anything, but I could see it in his face. What will a couple of days hurt?"

"A lot," a new voice said. They looked up to see that Don had entered the room. He flopped down into a chair next to Mike. "I do hurt, and I am tired, but anyone of us could come down with the flu any day now. In three days, we all could be running 102 degree fevers. If we're going to attack, we have to do it now"

"Are you sure Donny?" Leo asked.

"Have I ever led you wrong before Leo?" He glanced over at Mike and could see the smirk start to appear "No cracks out of you Mikey."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Mike said defensively. 

"Sure you weren't," Don answered

"Well, I wasn't," Mike demanded, his tone changed slightly, "Especially if I'm going to a movie next weekend"

Leo suppressed a laugh, and Don slouched down in the chair and rested his head against the side of the chair. "We'll both go, Mikey." Don replied, "Would you get me some painkillers?"

"Sure dude," Mike said and headed to the infirmary.

"Seriously Donny," Leo started, "Will you be able to take down whatever security systems we're facing and defend yourself if you and Mike get split up? You know that we can't necessarily defend you if we all get separated."

"In other words, you feel like you can't take me on this mission, but you can't leave me behind either."

"Yeah, that sums it up. I can't take you in because I'd be too worried about protecting you, but you're the only one who can break into the security systems."

"Damned if you do, Damned if you don't. Come on Leo, it's either one… Here's one more thought… If you don't take me, you have no shot of taking them down. And you know that. So the real question is, how to protect me and not jeopardize the mission at the same time?"

"You're right, we can't take out the security systems without you. But can't I protect you if I'm not going to be anywhere near you?" Leo looked over at Splinter. Splinter was regarding both of them thoughtfully.

"You must trust that Donatello can take care of himself," Splinter said, "Otherwise the mission will fail. As a leader you must trust those who surround you to not fail in their duties. If you expect them to fail, they will fail. If you trust them, they may still fail, but at least they were not doomed to fail by your expectations."

"I'll be alright Leo," Don concurred with Splinter. "Mike will be with me, right?" 

Leo nodded

"Then there is nothing to worry about." Don said matter of factly. "You worry to much Leo… trust me and Mike, we'll be alright."

Mike arrived back with the strongest painkillers that they had. "Here you go Donny, sweet dreams"

"I need to check on Raph first," he said yawning. 

"I'll come with you, Raph's probably in a bad mood. You'll need defending." Mike smiled. "He's not going to be happy with being left behind."

Leo remarked dryly, "That's what he gets for not listening to Master Splinter. We're all going to get sick because of him." 

'That's not like Leo,' Don thought. He walked over and looked at his brother carefully. "Are you feeling ok Leo?"

"I'm fine Donny," he said shortly.

Don put his hand on Leo forehead. His hand grew warm. "Shit… Oh, um, sorry Master… I think Leo has a fever."

Splinter stood up in concern and walked over to Leo. "My son, how do you feel?"

"I'm very tired, Master. Otherwise I'm ok. I'll go to bed now, I should be fine in the morning." 

"Go with Donatello to the infirmary, let him examine you." Splinter said

"Yes Master." The three brothers walked to the infirmary. Raph was there, sleeping on one of the cots. 

Don was brooding. 'We're in big trouble,' he thought. Don looked down at the burn scars on his arms. They had scabbed over to an ugly red patch. He ran is finger over them. They felt rough and bumpy. 'Leo's worried about me, and he's the one who is feeling like crap. Typical, Leo…never thinking about his own well being… and one hell of a brother.' Don looked over to Mike who was gently waking up Raph. He walked over to them.

"Leo," Don said looking back at him, "why don't you hop up on the other table. I'll be there in a second." Don and Mike managed to get the sedated Raph in a sitting position. Raph looked at them through drug hazed eyes.

"Hey guys," he replied fuzzily. "Whatz up?"

"You are," Don said sarcastically, "well mostly." He addressed Mike, "grab the thermometer and blood pressure monitor, would ya." Mike went and got them while Don checked out Raph's throat, ears, eyes, and listened to his lungs. "Not bad," Don said as he finished up.

"How's he doing?" Mike asked

"Better I think. The infection is clearing up. His lungs are clear… The infection hasn't spread to his ears either… He should feel a lot better tomorrow, you know… after the sedative wears off. Would you take his temperature and blood pressure, while I check out Leo?"

"Sure," Mike said, and as Don was walking toward Leo, Raph began to tip over sideways.

"Whoa," Raph said, "Earthquake… the lights are pretty…"

"How much of that stuff did you give him?" Mike asked. 

"Way too much," Don admitted and then got defensive. "Well, he would have followed us, you know that. The only way I thought we'd keep him in one place was to drug him."

"My only question is, Why didn't you give that stuff before, like when he goes off in rages. You could have saved us all a bunch of headaches." Mike asked laying Raph down again.

"Headaches hurt less then broken bones, which is what he would have given me… after he woke up."

Mike smiled at the comment, and then took his brother's temperature and blood pressure.

Don started his assessment of Leo. "Say Ahh…" 

Leo slowly allowed himself to be checked over, but he didn't say a word. 

Don broke the silence, "So Leo, Did you like watching that porn with Raph before we got burned?"

"What?" Leo looked at Don, "How did you know?"

"I didn't until just now. I just had a suspicion." Don smiled at Leo's revelation. "It's ok bro, l won't tell Splinter."

Mike piped up from across the room, "that another movie for me, I'm liking this."

Leo dropped his head down, his face burned with humiliation. 

Don turned to Mike, "Gee thanks, Mikey, I just get the guy talking and then you go blackmail him. I'll never get him to talk, now." 

Leo looked up at Don and then smiled slowly, "Don't worry about the blackmail, Donny, he was there too."

"What?" Don looked at Leo, "All three of you watched a porno movie together…" Don looked a bit horrified. "Way too much information Leo. Things I don't want to know about my brothers…" He changed the topic. "Well Leo, it looks like you have strep throat. I'll give you a shot of penicillin… It's been working well for Raph." Don left Leo and started preparing a syringe. 

"I didn't mean Mike," Leo said, "I meant Splinter."

Mike and Don both quickly spun around to look over at Leo, their faces mixed with horror and confusion.

"Splinter?" Mike asked

"A porno movie?" Don asked

"No way," Mike exclaimed

Leo smiled at them and said simply, "Gotcha."

Both Mike and Don shook their head and then started to smile, and then to laugh. 'Must not be feeling too bad,' Don thought.

Don gave Leo the shot and then they all went to bed. The next day was going to be long.

****

Chapter 10: 

Casey, decked out as a wino, stumbled into the warehouse, just after dark. Leo was perched in a mezzanine, about 15 feet from the ceiling, safely out of view. Don and Mike were hiding outside of the warehouse, with Raph's motorcycle parked close. Raph, Splinter and April were hold up at April's and Casey apartment. All was set up for the first encounter with the invisible enemy. 

Don noticed that the trip signal from the door was going off. Now, it was a waiting game.

Earlier that day It took roughly 2 hours to convince Raph that being rear guard was important, so important that he in fact should do it. Raph couldn't have stayed in the fight for very long. He was better, but he still was running a high fever. Don figured that Raph would last maybe 2 hours before he would pass out. Raph didn't agree to stay put until Don threatened to sedate him again. 

As for Leo, he also was running a fever, but a much milder one. Don too was tired, still recovering from the burns he suffered. Mike and Casey both were fine. But the team was still crippled. It was dangerous situation, the last time they had fought as an incomplete team, the foot mopped up the floor with them. They barely made it out alive. 

With all the unknowns, they had decided for a quick RECON mission, to figure out the missing pieces to the puzzle. They hoped that they could figure it out, give the info to April and let the police take care of the fighting. Casey would set off the alarms. Leo was stay with Casey to help defend him, just in case. Don and Mike would follow the guards back to the headquarters. They would break in to the building and glean as much information as they could, and then as Leo put it, 'Get the hell out of there, cause I'm not coming in after you.' Not that Leo would know where they were anyway. Any group that could find heat seeking lasers and had an old warehouse wired, probably had an internal system that would detect any tracking devices inside. Mike and Don would be totally cut off. 

Leo wanted to kill the plan because of the dangers and the high likelihood of Don and Mike getting caught. But as Splinter pointed out, if they didn't act soon the opportunity would pass. Don also pointed out that of the four turtles, he and Mike would be the two most likely to get in and get out without being detected. Mike and Don didn't have to fight, whereas Leo and Raph almost always ended getting into some kind of scuffle, with each other, if no one else was around.

Two guards arrived about 30 minutes from when the signal was tripped. They looked like foot, except they weren't wearing black masks. The were young-ish, probably in their early 20's. Don from his position called back to Splinter on his cell phone.

"Master," he whispered into the phone.

"Yes Donatello?" 

"The guards are here, it took them roughly 30 minutes to get here. So if Mike and I don't get back, we'll probably be a 10 mile radius around the warehouse. This is the last time I'm going to check in. If all goes well, I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Good luck, my son."

"Bye"

Don and Mike waited a couple more anxious minutes until the guards roughly dragged Casey out of the door. Don and Mike exchanged a look, and then grinned at each other. With his long hair and some ratty clothing that Mike pulled out of a dumpster, Casey really looked the part of a drunken homeless man. 

The guards kicked Casey in the ribs and mumbled something that wasn't quite audible. Casey fell to the ground, and the guards walked away, back toward their car.

Mike got the motorcycle out of its hiding place while Don quickly memorized the car that the guards got into. Don climbed on behind Mike and after the guards were in the car, they pulled out of their hiding spot, onto the street. 

They followed several streets behind the guards trying to be as inconspicuous as the empty streets let them be. After about 5 minutes, the guards pulled into a heavier traffic area, and Mike started to follow more closely. Don used a pair of small binocular to focus in and then memorized the license plate of the car. 

They drove on for another 15 minutes and then the car stopped at a large office building. The car went inside what looked like an underground parking garage. Mike drove past the building until he found a place to stash the motorcycle, near a local bar, 4 blocks from the office building. He and Don walked back to the place on foot.

They were downtown, in an older part of the city. The building were all not as tall here, between 3 and 15 stories. The office building they were going to was on the corner of the block. It was about 10 stories tall.

As they approached the building, Mike stopped Don.

"What the plan?" Mike asked from beneath his fedora hat. 

"I figured we break in from the ceiling and work our way down toward the basement. The roof door is the least likely to have massive security and the loot is probably stashed in the basement. Otherwise, we do what Leo said, get in and get out as fast as possible and let the police clean up the mess."

"Got it Dude."

"And hey," Don continued as Mike turned to start walking away, "We do this quietly and let try to avoid fights if possible."

Mike nodded and started to pull out his rope. Don followed suit and within minutes they were standing on the roof of the building. They walked over to the door. There was a simple badge reader on the door to the stairs, which was locking the door. Don pulled out his tool kit and started to dismantle the badge reader. Meanwhile, Mike was watching the traffic over the side of the building, and rear guarding for Don. 

After about 20 minutes Mike heard a little pop, and the door opened just a bit. Don glanced inside, a security camera was in stairwell fixed right on the door. 

"Come on Mike and hurry, I can't disable that camera from here"

They ran through the door, Don pulling it closed behind them. They ran straight to the camera and stood underneath it. 

"Alright Mikey, when I say go, pull this little wire out of the camera, alright." Don said showing Mike the cable he meant.

"Go." He said in a quiet whisper. Mike yanked the wire hard and Don ran back to the door. He hastily put the cover back on the badge reader, and pulled the door closed until it magnetized and locked tightly. 

He walked back to Mike, and looked underneath the camera. He plugged the video feed cable back into the camera, and hoped no one noticed that little camera outage.

"We should grab all the security tapes before we leave to make sure no one saw us." Don whispered. 

"If there is time for that." Mike said, indicating the time. "Let's get moving."

They walked to the nearest entrance, the 12th floor. The same locking mechanism that was on the roof door was on this door. 

Mike sighed impatiently. "Is this going to take another 20 minutes?"

"Don't worry, I think I have the hang of it" Don said as he popped off the 2nd casing of the evening. After about 10 minutes the door unlocked. 

"You're getting better, but you still suck." Mike teased softly. 

Don rolled his eyes and then motioned Mike into the floor. It was a well lit hallway with stylish blue carpeting and décor. It looked like executive offices. They padded through the empty hallways, being careful to avoid any other cameras. It wasn't until the made to the receptionist area, that they obtained any useful information.

"KidCo Incorported." Mike whispered.

"What?" Don asked

"That's the name of this company, KidCo Incorporated."

"Have you ever heard of them?"

"Yeah, they make kids video games and hand held electronic games. Shadow has a couple of them, a Barbie one, if I remember right." Mike answered, referring to Casey's daughter.

"Yeah I remember now, I had to fix it once." Don replied. "What in the does a kid's video game company have to do with a rash of thefts?"

"You'll never know," a voice from behind them said and Mike ducked just in time to miss the round house kick coming from behind. Mike and Don fell into defense positions right in front of the receptionist's desk. 

Don and Mike circled back to back as 20 guards filled the expansive seating area. The guards looked the foot, but they were different somehow. Don couldn't put his finger on what the difference was, but he didn't have time to think about it long.

"Attack," the same voice said, and 6 guards began to attack Mike and Don. 

Mike quickly dispatched the first guard with a round house kick and using his bo, Don took out the second moments later. Don and Mike were using the receptionist desk to prevent any one from getting behind them and they stayed close to each other to prevent anyone from getting in between them. This was a defense that Splinter taught. Raph dubbed it "you're probably screwed defense", since it was a tactic used when you were seriously outnumbered.

The defense worked better with all 4 of them, but it was working. Only 2 or 3 guards could attack at once. Mike was having a great time. He took out the next guy with a couple of punches and then threw him across the room into the crowd of guards, knocking several down.

"Hey, Donnie, did you see that, it's foot bowling. Two more and I would have had a strike" 

"Watch it or your are going to get struck." Don answered, and as it said that another guy jumped into the fray. The new guard pulled out a pair of katanas. "Look out Mikey, weapons!"

The new guard started attack Don with his blades and after a few minutes Don's bo was splintering. Don starting defending with his right hand using the bo and with his left he pulled out a sai. He quickly caught the blade with his left hand and with a quick wrist flip, broke the sword in half. Don then kicked his opponent in the center of the chest and knocked him backward across the room. Just in time for anther guard to step in. At least this one didn't have any weapons. 

Mike always the clown, was attacking two guards at once and taunting them the entire time. "Well, now if you would have told me that", he said as he knocked the two guards together, "maybe I would have seen if from your side," and then kicked them both, "and we wouldn't have had to get violent", and then pushed them both back into the mob. 

They had probably defeated over half of the guards, but there were still more fresh people just waiting for their turn. On top of that, some of the defeated people were ready to give it a 2nd go. Don looked into the sea of black ninja uniforms, and quickly came to a decision. 

"Mikey," Don said and then paused for a 5 count. "Desperro, en cinco" The saying was garbled Spanish, an it meant, roughly, disappear in five counts. Japanese, being Splinter native tongue, was the 2nd language of choice around the lair. However, Raph pointed out that using Japanese in fights with other ninjas is worthless, because most were Japanese. So they alternated, on the streets they used Japanese for directions, in ninja battles, Spanish. The Spanish Mikey picked up watching Mexican telenovelas. 

"Comprendo, dude" Mike answered back. He quickly dispatched the person he was fighting with and then when the smoke bomb went off he jumped straight up and caught a hold of the suspended ceiling knocked away one of the ceiling tiles and climbed into the ceiling. The ceiling protested until Mike hoisted himself up onto air vent. He quickly put the tile back into place and looked around for Don. 

Don was in the middle of performing the same maneuver. He was behind Mike by a full 5 seconds. Dangerously slow considering the circumstances. He quickly got into a similar position as Mike. They started to crawl inside the suspended ceiling, using vents and water pipes to mask their position. Mike wondered about the timing, why Don was so far behind him. He looked at his brother and noticed some small cuts, but no major injuries. 

After five minutes and several rooms away from the attack, Don pulled off his belt a badge he pulled off one of the guards. He showed Mikey and then he grinned like a Cheshire Cat. Mikey smiled back, and then thought 'what a thief'. 

The vents they were climbing on came to a center section of the building. 'A way down' Don thought. He gestured to Mike to go down back into the hallway. Mike looked at him oddly, but didn't argue. He dropped back into the hallway silently, and Don a second behind him. Don fixed the ceiling tiles again, and Mike watched carefully in the deserted hallway. Don found what he was looking for, a utility room. They quickly entered. Don looked around the room. There was a small hatch. Using the sai, Don pried it open. "Going down," he whispered to Mike.

Mike look into the blackness of the hole. Don handed him a flashlight and he looked in again. There were four or five pipes in a row going down further then he could see. "Is the elevator out of order?" Mike whispered. 

"Get going," Don said, "I'm right behind you. I need to get the door back on." Mike shuddered, and lowered himself into the blackness. Don followed behind him and pulled the door on the best he could. 

They were in the main water wall of the building. It was entirely pitch black and for safety, they both keep quiet. They found by the 11th floor, that they could rest their arms by bracing their legs and their shells between the walls and the pipes. It was totally encompassing darkness.

Both brothers were edgy. Mike probably more so, due to his active imagination. All the horror movies he had ever watched flashed through to his mind. His mind was so busy freaking him out that he forgot he was roughly 11 stories in the air. He began to slip and then really freaked out. He caught himself before he fell too far. 'Mind on task' he thought of Splinter words and continued down the shaft.

Don too was on edge. The original plan was totally shot. Don didn't like being in charge of situations like this. He understood why Splinter wanted him to, but it was an uncomfortable stretch. Leo and Raph were really more natural leaders. Don was trying to salvage as much of the mission that he could. He had decided in the ceiling that if they could get to the basement, they would still try to get finish the mission. 

It took them quite a while to get to the basement, but they did make it. Mike was on the bottom, and using the sai, he pried open the hatch door. It took Mike several minutes to get the hatch open and then they were the same type of utility room except, 14 or so stories below where they were. Neither brother was sure if they were in a basement or subbasement, or on the ground floor. After passing the 7th hatch, their bodies were screaming in fatigue, they stopped counting which floor they were on.

The found out quickly that they were on the ground floor. The left the utility closet and walked out into a hallway. No one was around and they noticed quickly that there were windows at the end of the hall, ground floor windows. 

'At least we can get out in a hurry' Don thought. The quickly walked around the halls, looking for anything that could help them put these guys down. They carefully avoid cameras and windows and then made it to an interesting looking room. It had both security cameras and several locking mechanisms. 

Don quickly took care of the cameras, this time using Polaroid pictures from his pack. The picture in front of the camera gave the impression that everything was alright, unless you looked really closely. After the camera, Don used the stolen badge to get into the room. 

As they looked around in the room, they knew if they were going to find anything, this was the place. Part of the room was a small dock area for deliveries. It had a couple of access doors out the back and one truck dock. Most of the room was filled with light industrial computer equipment. Don figured it was probably for building the computer games Mike was talking about.

There was one part of the area looked like a large inventory storage area. They walked over and saw lots of large crates with nondescript labels. One box said Plastic Shipping Cases, another read, Soldering Guns. They kept moving through the area. One crate they saw said Electronic Cards. Don looked at it puzzled and opened it up. 

Instead of any kind of computer equipment, he found instead packages of gold jewelry, in neat packs laying in the crate. Pay dirt!

Mike started taking some Polaroids of the box and the area and then they put the crate back where it belong.

The started to leave and then Don realized something.

"Shit, Mikey, this isn't going to work!" Don whispered to his brother.

"Why not?"

"They know that we were here in the building, they'll probably move everything before we can do anything about it."

"Shit," Mike agreed, "You're right."

"What do we do?" Don asked. "We can't fight them all, they're still looking for us, we have probably 10 – 15 minutes before the find us, and we're also running out of time to get home before dawn."

Mike eyes suddenly twinkled. "Let's start a fire in the building. Get the place crawling with firefighters and cops and then have April come and cover the report. Say the stolen articles are out in the middle of the room so when the firefighter arrive, they're just lying about the place."

"You're a genius. Start laying out the stuff, I'll come up with a convincing fire."

Don searched around the room and found something that would naturally start a fire. Over by a couple small plastic forming machines, he found a small torch. 'That's perfect' he thought and found a bench that would make a great spot for a fire.

Mike began to layout the evident in spots all over the room. Places where the investigators couldn't miss it. But far enough away from Donnie to prevent any damage to the objects. 

Don was just ready to light the blaze when they were found again. Several guards found them and attacked. Don was taking on all 4 single handedly and not doing so well. The guards surrounded him and were getting shots on all sides.

Don managed to take one out with a kick, but the others just fought harder. Mike arrived just in time to take two of the guards on, and Don cleaned up the third. Don staggered for a moment, caught himself, and then started to light the workbench on fire. Mike dragged the guards safely away from the future blaze.

By the time Mike had the men moved, the fire was going and burning brightly in the dark area. Don kept the fire going in its early stages while Mike made the phone call to the fire department. 

"Yeah, I'm a security guard, there's a fire here, send over a bunch of firetrucks, this could get really bad…. Address… I don't know the address… Can't you trace the call… I know I work here, but I just started like last week… My name? It's Mike… The fires in the back, come in the back door by the dock… That's the quickest…They're on the way… Thanks…"

Mike and Don quickly left through the back door just as the fire alarms in the building started going off. They raced back to the bar and got back on the motorcycle. Don looked at his watch as they started to drive away, 3:30 am. It'd been almost 5 and a half hours since they split up with Leo and Casey. 

They drove around aimlessly close to the building, till the firefighters arrived. As the firefighter walked into the back door, Mike and Don headed back to April's apartment.

****

Chapter 11:

At April's apartment, by 3:30 April and Shadow had gone to bed. Casey was asleep in his Lazy-boy, Raph was asleep on the couch and Splinter was meditating alone on the roof. Leo was worried. He paced around the apartment, wondering what happened to Donnie and Mikey. The trouble was if they didn't make it back, there wasn't anything that he could do. He still thought this mission was too risky. 

Mike and Don arrived just after 4:00. Leo's worry vanished.

"Mike, Don!" Leo exclaimed, the relief evident on his face. "What happened? You were supposed to home hours ago!"

"Let see," Don started, "There were those 20 foot soldiers, or the 12 story climb down on water pipes, or the fire, anyone of those could have been the reason we were so late."

"Fire? Climb down on water pipes?" Leo asked confused.

"Let's just say the plan didn't go off very well." Don said as he sat down on the floor of the living room. He backed his shell up against the wall and let his head fall back until it was resting against the wall. 

Mike was stowing the bags that he and Don had into the hall closet. He looked back toward Don and said, "Hey dude, no sleeping yet, you need those cuts dressed."

"Do I have to move?" Don asked.

"Unless you want to face the wrath of April when your blood gets all over her white walls." He answered back walking over toward him. Mike pulled Don into a standing position. And they started walking into the kitchen. 

Raph woke up as well. "Hey Mikey, Hey Donnie, how it go?" He said stretching into a yawn. 

"We got 'em!" Mike said grinning. "It was rough, but they're toast!"

"Literally," Don sighed. He looked over at Raph who was standing up, "How are you feeling?" 

"Better then you look." He said smiling. "So what happened?"

Mike had Don sitting at the kitchen table and got out a bunch of gauze wrap, antiseptic cream, and a bowl full of soapy water. Leo sat in the other chair and Raph hopped up on the kitchen counter. Splinter joined the group just then.

"My sons," Splinter said, "You have returned to us, were you successful?"

Don began the story, "Well, we found the people responsible. What was their name again Mikey?"

"Kidco Incorporated. They make kid's electronic games." Mike answered as he was cleaning one of the small cuts on Don arm. 

"They had at least some of the stolen goods in their warehouse," Don continued. "We ran into some trouble on the top floor of the building."

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "There were about 20 foot soldiers and we mopped up the floor with them."

Raph piped up, "Sure you did, that's why Donnie has all those cuts all over him."

"Oh speaking of that," Don began and with his arm that Mike wasn't bandaging, he pulled the sai out of his belt and gestured to Raph, "Here you go, you're right, it did come in handy. I'm sure there would have been more cuts, without it."

Leo's eyes doubled in size when he saw that. "When did you start learning how to use sais?" 

"A couple of years ago," Don said, "Splinter told me that even I didn't want to use a different attack weapon, I'd still need to train on something for defense. Sais provide the best defense against katanas."

"Please continue with your story, my son." Splinter gently prodded. 

Leo shook his head in disbelief as Don continued. "Anyway, there would be no way to defeat all the guards that were there, so we climbed into the ceiling. Then we found the main water wall in the building and climbed all the down to the basement that way.

Once we got to the basement we found this manufacturing and warehouse area. We checked around and found some stolen articles. We were going to leave with the pictures, but since we'd been caught we figured that they move all the stuff before the police could get there. So instead we lit a fire and called the fire department." 

Mike piped up, "I moved all the stolen articles into more conspicuous locations so when the firefighters arrived, the would see the stolen goods."

"Cool," Raph said. 

"I know that wasn't the plan, in fact it wasn't anything close to the plan, but hopefully it worked," Don said and then winced as Mike put so antiseptic one of his cuts. 

"I am proud of all of you my sons. You have grown strong in your trust and understanding of each other. You have noted your weakness and did what was necessary. Sleep now. We'll discuss this more tomorrow."

****

Epilogue: 

Leo came down with the flu that Raph had been fighting. He was as miserable as Raph was a few days earlier. His burns were almost better, but they still hurt him. If they hadn't made the attack when they did, Leo wouldn't have been able to do anything.

Raph on the other hand, felt a lot better. He was still running a low fever, but he was up and around. 

Don was sore and tired. The climb down the water wall had hurt him more then even he would admit. His burns were still healing, and now they were augmented with a couple of small cuts and several bruises. He too started running a fever that day and was coming down with Raph's flu.

Mike was great, a little sore from the trip down the water wall, but otherwise he was showed no signs of the ordeal that they all went through. 

They watched April's news broadcast about the arrests in the living room. The firefighters did in fact find the stolen goods and several arrests were made at KidCo.

Mike jumped up excited, and said, "Hey bros this deserves a Cowabunga!" 

"Guys?" Mike asked when no one answered him. He turned around and looked around the room. Raph was sound asleep in Casey's chair, Leo was curled up in a cocoon of blanket asleep on the floor, and Don was asleep on the couch. 

Mike turned off the TV, raised his hand in the air and whispered, "Cowabunga!" 


End file.
